Wade robinson



Patented Mar. 7, I899.

W. ROBINSON.

P E N C L E A N E R.

(Application filed July 18, 1898.)

(No Model.)

INVENTOR lmwfidno BY As HIS ATTORN Y WITNESSES:

UNITED STATES I PATENT OFFICE.

-WADE ROBINSON, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

PEN-CLEANER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 620,674, dated March 7,1899.

Application filed July 18,1898. Serial No. 686,225. (No model.

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, XVADE ROBINSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at No. 12 East One Hundred and Thirty-first street, in the cityof New York, county and State of New York, have invented a new anduseful Pen-Olean er, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in that class of pen-cleaners inwhich a sponge or absorbent cloth or fabric is retained in a cup or bowlpartly filled-with water or other fluid; and the object of my inventionis to provide for the purpose of cleaning a pen a means which shall besimple, cleanly, neat in appearance, and at all times serviceable. Iattain this object by the means described herein, and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a perspective view of thepencleaner with cover open, and Fig. 2 is a sectional view of same withcover closed.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in each figure.

The. pen-cleaner is provided with a cup 0, constructed of glass, hardrubber, or any other suitable material, having the annular groove 1),into which is fitted immovably the annular ring 0, constructed of metal,hard rubber, or any other suitable material and provided on the upperhalf of its outer circumference with the screw-thread d, an annularcollarf, constructed of metal, hard rubber, or anyother suitablematerial, provided on the inner side of its perpendicular extension witha screw-thread h, adapted to screw down on the screw-thread d of theannular ring 0, a cover is, constructed of metal, hard rubber, or anyother suitable material in hollow hemispherical form and attached to theannular collar f by means of an ordinary hinge Z, and with a cleaningdevice having a convex resilient surface protruding through and abovethe annular collar f and means to support it in that position and acrosswhich run ridges or corrugations. The conventional form of this deviceillustrated in the accompanying drawings is constructed of a resilientsphere 19, preferably a hollow soft-rubber ball of a diameter slightlylarger than the inside diameter of the horizontal extension of theannular collar f and resting on the pedestal m, constructed of glass,hard rubber, or any other suitable material in tubular form, open atboth ends, the ends being spread out ward, the lower en d slightly morethan the upper. The pedestal m is of a height sufficient to cause thesphere p to protrude through and above the annular collar f a distanceslightly less than half its diameter. The sphere p is provided with aremovable hood or cover .9, constructed of any suitable absorbent skinor fabric, in which are stitched or fastened in any suitable mannerthree such folds or plaits as will form the ridges or corrugations 0 0.The hood or cover 3 is placed over the sphere p in such a manner thatthe ridges or corrugations 0 0 0 are brought evenly on top and that itslower part hangs down and is submerged in the water or fluid indicatedby the horizontal dotted lines and contained in the cup a, substantiallyas illustrated in Fig. 2. Thus it will be seen that the hood or cover 5by reason of its capillary attraction is kept constantly moistthroughout. The ridges or corrugations 0 0 0 on the hood or cover 8 areof a size, distance apart at the center, and converge at a pointconsistent with utility, substantially as illustrated in the drawings.

The several parts of the cleaning device are maintained in the positionsas described and illustrated by means of the annular collar f, which isscrewed down on the annular ring 0 by means of the screw-threads d andh.

The hood or cover 3 is made capable of removal from the sphere p inorder that when it has become worn out it may be replaced by another ofsimilar construction.

The cover 76 is provided to protect the surface of the cleaning devicewhen not in use.

The construction of the cleaning device described above and illustratedin the drawings is substantially as shown; but its form may be varied,its requisites being a convex re silient surface across which run ridgesor cor= rugations and means to support it.

To clean a pen by means of my pen-cleaner, the convex or upper side ofthe pen is drawn or rubbed across the surface of the cleaning device andthe concave or under side of the pen is drawn or rubbed along one of theridges 0 0 0 of the cleaning device, exerting at the same time a slightdownward pressure, thus It willbe seen that the pen-cleaner is equallywell adapted to use as a moistener of stamps and envelops and for othersimilar purposes.

' cross-section with the cross-section of a pen What I claim is 1. In apen-cleaning device the combination with a receptacle for liquid, of ahollow resilient sphere, a support for said sphere 10- cated within thesaid receptacle, and adapted to support the said sphere below the middlethereof, a hood of absorbent material covering I the upperhalf of saidsphere,the lower portion 1 of said absorbent material arranged to hangdown around the said support and be immersed in the liquid contained insaid recep-.

tacle substantially as specified.

2. In a pen-cleaning device the combination with a receptacle for liquidof a resilient surface suitably supported so that it shall be above thelevel of the liquid in said receptacle, and an absorbent hood orcovering for said resilient surface, provided with ridges orcorrugations, corresponding substantially in to be cleaned, the lowerportion of said hood or covering arranged to hang down and be immersedin the liquid contained in said receptacle, substantially as specified.

WADE ROBINSON.

Witnesses:

MAUD STEPHENS.

